Why Do Males Even Exist ?

[Boyd Crowder]

Males: who needs them? It’s a valid question—the existence of the male sex is a real scientific inquiry.

On a survival-of-the-species level, males are basically only needed to provide sperm. In light of that, sex seems like a pretty inefficient way of reproducing in comparison to asexual reproduction. Half the offspring produced are also incapable of directly bearing future generations, and parents have to dilute their genes for the pleasure. Not to mention the hassle of finding a suitable mate in the first place.

So why has evolution allowed two-parent reproduction to persist when it seems so inefficient? Why is sex still a thing? Why don’t we just have females who can reproduce by themselves?

In a paper in Nature, biologists suggest a solution to the mystery: the existence of males and of sex allows for sexual selection, which helps keep a species healthy so it doesn’t go extinct. They tested this hypothesis in populations of beetles.

Sexual selection helps to purge out ‘bad genes’ from a population.

Sexual selection is a type of natural selection whereby members of a species (usually male) compete to reproduce with others (female)—think peacocks showing off. The imbalance there is borne broadly from the fact that females usually need to invest more effort into reproducing and are more limited in terms of how often they can try—though the details naturally differ among species.

Read More: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/why-males-exist

 

[mr.brunch]

The advantage of reproducing via male/ female is to allow the Dna to recombine producing variations and to allow species to evolve.
Like combining different cannabis with favourable traits to get a new plant rather than growing the same clone constantly
I would imagine the Y chromosome evolved for this purpose

 

[OranguTrump]

To kill spiders

 

[Mrs.Babba]

^^^^ hell ya!! lol

 

[vostok]

There are many 'tribes' in the world in which the child is born under one sex then turns/herms again later to another sex, also many herms are born hermaphrodite and adjust later to the dominant sex, some feel as if they are one sex but and settle to their desired sex later under the docs knife,...just natures way of assorting the DNA? ........its no bidgdeal

 

[unk1]

options options options!

 

[stoned-trout]

alcohol has allowed bad genes to keep multiplying..........yeeeeeehhhaaaawwwww

 

[Genghis Kush]

Recombination

 

[Boyd Crowder]

alcohol has allowed bad genes to keep multiplying..........yeeeeeehhhaaaawwwww

so
much
WINNNN!!!!!!!

 

[dddaver]

Who else is gonna open that pickle jar... huh...huh? I rest my case.

 

[stoned-trout]

to do all the hard work .....yeehaw....lawns don't mow themselves

 

[VonBudí]

parents have to dilute their genes for the pleasure. Not to mention the hassle of finding a suitable mate in the first place.

 

[dddaver]

Scientists uncover big clue as to why men exist

Elizabeth Armstrong Moore, Newser staff 11:25 a.m. EDT May 19, 2015

(Photo: snowflock, Getty Images/iStockphoto)


69 COMMENTEMAIL

(NEWSER) – Scientists have long wondered why men exist. Sex between males and females is simply not nearly as efficient as asexual reproduction. But now a group out of the UK is reporting in the journal Nature that, after looking at several years of lab-controlled procreation of the Tribolium flour beetle, they have found that sexual selection—the process by which males compete for females—helps species become fitter and more resilient to disease. "Competition among males for reproduction provides a really important benefit, because it improves the genetic health of populations," the lead researcher at the University of East Anglia says in a press release. "Sexual selection achieves this by acting as a filter to remove harmful genetic mutations, helping populations to flourish."
Such a question can be tested on this particular beetle, which is a pest in many a flour bag, because aside from their genes the males don't help raise offspring, reports NBC News. In the lab, the scientists controlled the beetle's environments such that the only difference between populations was the strength of sexual selection, which ranged from intense—with 90 males competing for 10 females—to no sexual selection at all, where females were limited to one monogamous partner and thus males didn't have to compete. Seven years (and 50 generations) later, the beetles that resulted from the strongest sexual selection were in the best health and were the least likely to go extinct when inbred, Reuters reports. (Speaking of evolution, a third of Americans don't believe it exists.)

 

[al70]

Bring on the colloidal silver

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

But now a group out of the UK is reporting in the journal Nature that, after looking at several years of lab-controlled procreation of the Tribolium flour beetle, they have found that sexual selection—the process by which males compete for females—helps species become fitter and more resilient to disease. "Competition among males for reproduction provides a really important benefit, because it improves the genetic health of populations," the lead researcher at the University of East Anglia says in a press release. "Sexual selection achieves this by acting as a filter to remove harmful genetic mutations, helping populations to flourish."
Such a question can be tested on this particular beetle, which is a pest in many a flour bag, because aside from their genes the males don't help raise offspring, reports NBC News. In the lab, the scientists controlled the beetle's environments such that the only difference between populations was the strength of sexual selection, which ranged from intense—with 90 males competing for 10 females—to no sexual selection at all, where females were limited to one monogamous partner and thus males didn't have to compete. Seven years (and 50 generations) later, the beetles that resulted from the strongest sexual selection were in the best health and were the least likely to go extinct when inbred...

from Wikipedia
Sex pheromones

A sex pheromone released by male mealworms has been identified.[1] Polkii et al.[2] determined that inbreeding reduces the attractiveness of sexual pheromone signaling by male mealworms. They found that females were more attracted to the odors produced by outbred males than the odors produced by inbred males. These findings suggest that inbreeding reduces the attractiveness of male sexual signaling. The reduction of male signaling capability may be due to increased expression of homozygous deleterious recessive alleles caused by inbreeding.[3]

Outcrossing, hybrid vigor, ... it relates to our favorite plants also.

 

[TNTBudSticker]

Make you wanna flee the earth like an astronaut ? but got to be born in ohio

 

[al70]

There are many 'tribes' in the world in which the child is born under one sex then turns/herms again later to another sex, also many herms are born hermaphrodite and adjust later to the dominant sex, some feel as if they are one sex but and settle to their desired sex later under the docs knife,...just natures way of assorting the DNA? ........its no bidgdeal

a human can herm??edit. Naturally.

 

[BlueBlazer]

The missus likes to say that I'm worthless as tits on a warthog, but she always seems to find uses for me . . .

 

[dddaver]

I know, I know, the females say size don't matter, but I wonder if them scientist guys measured those flour beetles dicks and I'll just bet the one's who got lucky were the ones packing. They said disease resistance and natural competion, natural benfits etc., but us guys all know what's REALLY goin' on. WE all know what's what.

 

[al70]

The missus likes to say that I'm worthless as tits on a warthog, but she always seems to find uses for me . . .

lol, I heard similar,,,,boobs on a bull,,lol